I wrote this in 2007…but I stand by it! In a previous life, I used to figure skate. My idols were Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay, a brother/sister dance team from Aylmer, Quebec that skated for France after being criticised for being too weird by the Canadian figure skating establishment. In 1990, they performed an incredible program entitled “Missing”, choreographed…

This was an interview published in the L Magazine (Vol. 1, #19, October 13–26, 2004), a cute, little pocket-sized magazine that was available for free in a place they call Brooklyn, New York. At the time I had never been to Brooklyn, but a fellow I used to know (grade…

Thinking back, I was reminded that the first interview I ever did was with J Mascis, back in around the year 2000. People have said that Dinosaur Jr.’s lead everything is one of “music’s worst interview subjects”, but…

My first cover story was on the great Omar Lye-Fook MBE (I don’t think he was MBE at the time, but he’s always been incredible, so it was in the cards even then). I remember going to the show and finding out that I wasn’t on the guest list. I…

In the above photo, which, admittedly, tends to showcase the turntables more than anything, is Andy Williams at left and Will “Quantic” Holland at right. This is the interview I did with Will (using the first name sorta takes away from my journalistic mystique, eh?). An extremely short version appeared…

“No, she is better than number one. There is no one better. No one” — In a country better known for reggae and dancehall, Celine Dion’s music is rapturously, embraced by millions. A special report from the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, 2012. The original title for this piece was “Bigger than Jah”, but I figured I would give it a new title and a nod to Sharine Taylor’s viral tweet from earlier this year. I went to see Celine Dion perform in Jamaica back in 2012. I can say, without hesitation, it…

I always find that in Montreal, when it’s getting cold, it’s hard to imagine that it will ever be warm again. Then, when it’s blistering hot, it’s near impossible to believe that piles of snow fall on this city every year. This year, in addition to the cold, there’s also…

Local history and local heroes are important. And Canadian soundsystem culture isn’t just in Toronto — it’s across Canada, and certainly in Montreal. Back in 2005, I spoke to a bunch of the hardworking folks that were juggling, clashing and keeping the forwards coming. There had been a number of…

At the end of 2005, I did an interview with Damian Marley for now-defunct Heads magazine…Marley had a lot of interesting stuff to say about his trip to Ethiopia for the big concert in Meskel Square, Addis Ababa earlier that year. When I was in Lalibela in January 2006, my…